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Tuesday, November 24, 2015

VS slams UDF govt over price rice

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan has asked Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to clarify whether the price of vegetables going up by four and a half times in a span of four and a half years could be called the UDF government’s policy of development and caution. He said even when the prices were going north, the chief minister was only concerned about saving the faces of ministers embroiled in bar bribery case and safeguarding himself from Palm Olein case. “For food articles such rice and grains, the prices have skyrocketed. The government has deliberately given a freehand to the middle men to exploit the farmers so as to extract commission from the latter. To facilitate this, the government has kept off the market, its price control mechanism. Vegetables and fruits including Onion and orange are sold off through Horticorp at a price much above the market price. It has been months since subsidy items went off the shelves in Supplyco outlets,” he said in a statement on Tuesday. “As the administrative committee of Consumerfed that included UDF leaders had to be dismantled due to high-level corruption, it spelt a doom for cooperative stores that made available commodities and medicines to people at low cost. What was seen in the local body election was a reflection of all those non-populist activities,” he said.